As is often the case, potential customers in Norway get the first crack at ordering the hottest upcoming electric vehicles, and can now place reservations for the upcoming GLC-sized, all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQC.

The production version of the electric SUV has yet to be revealed, so the reservations (20,019 NOK/~$2,500 USD) are fully refundable at this point. The interest is apparently so high though, that the reservations are limited to one per person.

Mercedes has noted a very high interest rate since they started collecting deposits this past Thursday, and while they did not give a number, the number had reportedly approached 2,000 units by time of press today.

First deliveries are expected in 2019.

Mercedes-Benz EQ concept was equipped with a 70 kWh battery, good for 500 km (310 miles) on the hopeful NEDC system, in the real world, driving range will be more like 350 km (220 miles).

With two electric motors and 300 kW of power for all-wheel drive, the EQC can reportedly accelerate from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 5 seconds.

I think that 2000 for a country with 5-6 million people, is OK.
That is the equivalent of 128 000 cars in the US (given there are about 64 times as many people there).
I am sure they have to divide the number of cars they’ve planned to produce, with all the countries that is going to sell this model.

Also. . The car will look more normal, in the production version. When economists, manufacturing specialists and testing is finished. It must be easy to manufacture, with parts that can handle cold and warm conditions for years.
And they need a design they can sell.
Also, I read in a newspaper that two companies are going to use this model as a company car. So the preorders might be a little bit bigger.
After most countries have gotten a few cars, I’m sure they will sell to anybody with money, no matter where they live.

It is a concept car. The big question for these and other German high end EVs is will the current rebate rules apply to them or will the rebates be cancelled for everyone once T and GM are done. Big effect on their profitability for MB, etc.

The rebates will remain. It would take congress passing a new law to cancel them, but as some see them as tax breaks for the wealthy, republicans like them, and democrats like them because they appear green.

I ask here and now: Do jet engines also emit dangerous, carcinogens? And how about “Cold Starts” for all gasoline powered vehicles? Are we being baffled by bullshit like the cigarette folks did especially about lung damage? Global Warming cannot be more important than this?

Production model will probably not look like this.
It will be a refreshed version of the existing grill MB use now.
Ease of production, cost, how long it will laste and so on tells me this.
They may place a few LEDs behind the MB star, but I think that is as far as they will go.

Happy for them but….they could produce an EV with 500 miles of range and I still wouldn’t buy it. There are tens of thousands of chargers across this country but who wants to wait HOURS to charge a car while traveling? TESLA can not be beat because of their supercharger infrastructure and recharging in 30 or so minutes.

“TESLA cannot be beat”, until there is a OEM that is brave enough to actually acquiesce to St. Elon, and the Tesla Supercharger Network. “If you can’t beat em, join em”.

I am, for some strange reason, wondering which of the Major ICE OEMs will be brave enough to be the first to dip their big toe into, or back into, the Tesla “POOL”?

All they have to do is ask, and I’m sure the Tesla Supercharger Electron Flood Gates will open, for those willing to pay for their portion of the TSC Network, of course according to the Tesla Terms in their Conditional Use Permit.

what a waste of money that is.
COMPANIES should be doing the chargers themselves.
That 2B should be going into getting new owners to put in Level2, but also for apartments, rentals, etc.
IOW, that 2B should be used to encourage NIGHT TIME CHARGING, not daytime chargers.

More accurately, VW will be spending approximately $190 million for 240 locations with an average of 5 plugs per location. Most of these are not expected until late 2018 through mid 2019.

In comparison, the Tesla Supercharger network in the U.S. is already at 405 locations with roughly 2,400 plugs. Another 29 locations are under construction, so by end of year, Tesla’s Supercharger network will be roughly double the number of locations and more than double the number of plugs for this mid-2019 CCS network.

Clearly, Tesla is expecting to ship vastly more long range BEVs than everyone else combined through this time period. Otherwise, everyone else will have tremendous congestion.

In any case, the VW money is going to help charging infrastructure but it is in no way going to be equal to what Tesla has and continues to do as far as a logical and well laid out charging infrastructure both here in the US and increasingly in many places overseas.

I think this is a very US-centric point of view. In Europe, the public network is denser than the Tesla one.
In Norway, for example, there is, as far as I can see, 32 Tesla supercharger stations and over 200 combined Chademo & CCS/Combo charging stations (max 50 km between on all main roads).
Since these often have 1 or 2 charging points, the stats are closer when looking at those:
Tesla: 246
Chademo: 638
CCS/Combo: 595

I would put a refundable deposit down if we could in North America. Keep options open and the luxury brands will eventually end up taking on Tesla which we will all benefit from quality options to choose from

Apparently there is a difference between US companies’ Concept Cars and large German Automaker’s..

GM comes out with a VOLT Concept (3 cyl turbo, 50 miles all-electric-range, around 400 miles total travel range) and kinda looks like the production volt, although it looks more like the Camero at the time.

When the VOLT actually comes out it is quite close to the Concept – although aerodynamically much better (4 cylinder existing old Austrian engine (to satisfy a labor gripe there – besides being highly reliable), 35 miles AER, and 280 mile total range). Of course the second generation actually beat ALL the stats of the initial Concept Vehicle.

Then the Cadillac Converg Concept is almost precisely duplicated in the truncated life of the Cadillac ELR.

Meanwhile VW comes out with the CONCEPT BUZZ (must make sense in German since its a dumb name for English speakers) with 120 kwh (?) battery, high horsepower, plus a Stockbroker’s Dashboard with “Enough Video Monitors that you can adjust the temperature of your Home Refrigerator” – Humpf – must be YOURS not mine, as there are no electronics in any of mine.

Then it is revealed that the BUZZ actually has a current top speed of 25 mph and a superhuge battery (probably Pb-H2SO4) that has 15 miles range.

Then comes this mini-CUV from Diamler that they are so afraid that someone will discover how little there is to meet the eye that they refuse to show a closeup of the inside of the car for fear that it will be similar to that BUZZ joke.